9 September 2021

THUAS students design smart object to present data

Most people just walk along the beach boulevard; they don’t realize they are crossing the Living Lab Scheveningen test area. THUAS Industrial Design Engineering students were challenged to change this. They designed, prototyped and tested smart designs that increase awareness about smart technology and data collection on site. All teams thought about playful ways to include and educate passers-by. Two THUAS teams, Coast X and Wavie, were selected to showcase their prototypes at the Smart@Sea event this summer.

Aware’Oscope – an interactive periscope

The Coast X team (Tudor, Andres, Timo and David) developed a periscope attached to the SmartCityHub, a smart lamppost. The periscope-user rotates the handles to look at different areas, and get information about real-time data being collected. The periscope is meant to be both playful and informative. Tudor Grecu, from Coast X, said “We took advantage of an intuitive movement, that of the public binoculars on the seashore, combined with a bit of inspiration coming from VR headsets. That is the Aware’Oscope.”

Steps in the Sand – interactive projection

The Wavie team (Paul, Henry and Hidde) developed an projection system that can be easily integrated in the existing SmartCityHub. Interactive animations lead a person towards the data gathering lamppost. Starting with a series of footsteps and with a hand in the end. The team decided to design the animation for children, which automatically attracts everyone’s attention. 

Wavie was very proud of the result of their efforts. They took an idea in their mind and turned it into something real and functional. Paul Seidel, from Wavie, said “With ‘Steps in the Sand’ we managed to really achieve our design goal, which was to raise awareness about technology in public space. But we did more than just inform people. We managed to make it an interactive and playful experience, through which the users learn and discover new things by themselves.”

Inspiring solutions at Smart@Sea event

Paul, of Steps in the Sand: “It was very interesting for us to be present at the two days of the Smart@Sea event. Not only to see the reactions and feedback from professionals and the public, but also to see all the inspiring solutions that other teams had come up with”. 

Tudor and his team mates also had a lot of fun presenting their 3D printed Aware’Oscope prototype during the event. The feedback they received was overwhelmingly positive and the interaction with residents, visitors and municipality personnel was awesome.

Most fun part of the project

Tudor, of Aware’Oscope: “We had construction crew getting out of their machinery to check out our project. Police and paramedics as well. The two days at Scheveningen were the most fun part of the whole project, except for the sunburn I got. I wish any student has the opportunity to experience an event like this at some point. I was really surprised to find out how many people were interested in our niche technological gimmick. People are willing to spend free time to check out otherwise boring data if you turn it into something interactive.” 

Want to know more about the Aware’Oscope project? Visit this page.

Want to know more about the Steps In The Sand project? View the video. 

Read more about the Industrial Design Engineering programme at The Hague University of Applied Science.